When Donna mentioned they were looking for a volunteer project manager to help restore an old Parker "Curtiss" Style Pusher Iimmediately wanted to say"Let me try, I've been wanting to get more involved!" but I wanted to think about it before I volunteered as I don't know anything about restoring a plane. So here are the five items that what went into my decision to say "YES,Let's build this plane together!"

1) WAAAM is super cool! I really enjoy walking through the museum and looking at the colors of the planes and cars and learning about them and watching them "come alive" on Second Saturdays, and love the Fly-Inn!

2) The amazing volunteers! All these volunteers have an interesting story to tell and are genuine people who really care for one another. And it has been no different working on the pusher project. Our first work day 12 volunteers basically deconstructed the entire plane in a day! We had a blast, worked hard, laughed and learned, told stories and got lots of progress. They are really taking an ownership in the project as volunteers like Kelley Lively and Dan Evans have been doing research and bringing in pictures and sketches and putting lots of there own time on the project. I'm enjoying working and getting to know these volunteers. Sorry I can't mention all the volunteers right now, but I will make sure everyone is appropriately recognized.

3) The Ludwig Family Foundation Grant! The project has money! And the mission of this grant is to educate our volunteers on how to restore airplanes! FANTASTIC!

4) We have access to smart and fun IA's and A&Ps that can teachus volunteers what needs done like Bill Avolio, Jakonah Bell, Ben Davidson, Tom Murphy, and Ron Wilkins. I'm learning so much talking with these guys!

5) An excellent administrative core who are so positive: Donna Davidson, Judy Newman, Ken Olsson. These three have been great, and have done their best to get us what ever we need!

So five big positives, my only down side is I still have a full time job that gets in the way of all this fun. I've really enjoyed the WAAAM family as 17 months ago I moved to beautiful Hood River from Kansas and WAAAM was one of the first places I visited the first couple of days I was here. I remember walking into the door and Judy with her great welcoming smile saying "Are you a pilot?" No I said, but I've always loved going to airshows. "Do you want to be a pilot?" she asked. Yes, I said. Then she directed me pointing, "Well go across the runway there, sign up for your first lesson, and then come back and check out our museum." I did what she said, signed up for my first lesson, came back checked out the museum, bought a membership and signed up to be a volunteer, and oh yeah I got my private pilot license in 6 months."

So please, come join our team, we'll all learn together and have fun doing building this pusher for many to enjoy in the future.email me - Pusher Project